WRC FEATURE
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Sardiniaisgoingtobeaspecial
event! It will be the seventh time
the world rally championship has
been to the island, and with WRC
policies in a constant state of flux and
because of pressure for WRC events to be
held closer to areas of greater population,
it may be the last.
The Italian nation did not host a WRC
event in 2010 and it has been proposed it
will not do so in 2012. Contrary to original
plans, all the stages this year will be run on
gravel – the main novelty of the Rally Italia
Sardegna (6-8 May) is to move the Day 1
stages to the Oristano area in the west of
the island, with a remote service point at
the old Roman village of Siamanna.
On Days 2 and 3 the rally moves to
orthodox stages further north, closer to
the headquarters at Olbia. It is the first
time the WRC event has ventured towards
Oristano. The IRC event held on the island
in 2010 passed that way, although only one
of the 2011 event stages was used on that
occasion.
In Olbia itself, there is a new venue for the
Service park. This is the new terminal for
cruise liners, while the HQ itself will revert
to the city’s splendid nearby archeological
museum. The ceremonial start and finish
will be held this year in the Olbia harbour
area itself and not at Porto Cervo. The
mandatory televised final ‘Power Stage’ will
be an 8km stage in the hills to the north-
west of Olbia.
Therearemanyreasonswhythisevent
will be memorable. Firstly because it is
a double-rally. The national championship
Costa Smeralda Rally is run at the same
time, the same Day 1 stages run between
the first and second passes by the WRC and
the Day 2 stages run after the WRC’s two
passes.
Secondly the entry sees the debut of the
official BMW Mini world championship
team. The arrival of the Mini team is of
immeasurable encouragement to the sport,
even though the official team programme
in 2011 is of reduced commitment,, which
means the team will not be allowed to
score manufacturer championship points.
The independent Brazil team’s Mini driven
by Daniel Oliveira however, can score
manufacturer team points but only for
themselves, not for BMW itself.
Confidence in the World Rally
Championship is due to escalate further
before the rally in Sardinia, as VW are to
announce their own plans to enter the WRC.
Basically their programme is expected to
start in 2012 and be in full force in 2013.
Oneofthefeaturesoftherallyisthatonly
P1 drivers are expected to be allowed to
run at two-minute intervals – all other cars
will be at one minute. On Day 1 this situation
is to ensure there is sufficient time for the
Costa Smeralda Rally competitors to run
between passes.
The problem is compounded by the
uniquely Italian rule demanding four rather
than three minute gaps between stage arrival
and stage start times.
As for running order tactics, teams will
remember how the hanging early morning
dust on the final day two years ago hindered
later running cars and was a major feature
in the win of Jari-Matti Latvala. It was one
occasion when running first on the road on a
dry gravel rally was a GOOD thing!
A total of 64 cars are on the entry list, with
20 entered as World Rally Cars: 10 Fiestas and
five each Citroen DS3 and Mini John Cooper
Works.
Interesting entries are two Citroen WRCs for
father and son Peter van Merksteijn. Father
has the chance because Kimi Raikkonen
selected his programme concentrating on
events he had tackled last year and his car is
not otherwise being used at this time.
The absence of Ken Block from this event
means that two occasional drivers have the
chance to appear in Fiesta WRCs, so both
Evgeniy Novikov and PG Andersson are to
compete.
Patrik Flodin is to drive the famous Mini
chassis 07, the Adriatico Rally-winning car run
by the Grifone team – not certain at this time
whether this will be a full WRC or a Class 1
S2000 version, depending on available parts,
but in any case with the 30mm restrictor
changed to 33mm.
And at last we have a car entered in
the new Group R4 class. This will be the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X to be driven by
Matti Rantanen. After lengthy discussions
this car must now run on tyres from one of
the two official suppliers, Michelin or DMack,
thus ending hopes that this could be a
cherished prize drive from Pirelli for Juha Salo,
offered after winning the national Finnish
championship. As in Group N, this car will
also run with a 33mm restrictor. No top crews
are expected to run with DMack tyres on this
event.
For the first time this year Matthew Wilson
is nominated as one of the Stobart
registered drivers in the place of Henning
Solberg.
All 10 registered drivers in the Super 2000
world championship have selected Sardinia
as one of their events, though no national
‘Guest’ driver has been nominated by the
organisers.
The WRC Academy category comprises
the same 18 drivers seen in Portugal though
there are several co-driver changes, and
some changes to the cars to overcome
the driveshaft weaknesses experiences in
Portugal. Once again, these cars tackle only
Days 1 and 2.
The World Rally Car version of the John
Cooper Works S2000 car is scheduled to be
homologated in time for the event, so the
Mini has truly become a multi-purpose cross-
over rally car!
It is now possible for competitors to enter
the same car chassis in either specification,
which is what is happening for the car of
Oliveira, whose car (chassis 02) originally
constructed as a S2000 is being upgraded
with revised suspension, brakes and aero
parts (specially the big rear wing) for this
event. And the same car can now be fitted
with either a 30mm or a 33mm turbo
restrictor .
An added feature to all this is the fact that
the three-day all-asphalt IRC Corsica
Rally will run the following weekend (12-14
May) on the nearby Mediterranean island,
providing a really special holiday trip for rally
fans.
This event promises to see the first
appearance of a Japanese team in an
international championship rally this year –
Toshi Arai’s Subaru Impreza – and is also the
first time a round-the-island Tour de Corse
has been run for contemporary rally cars
since 1995.
Corsica is also currently in the minds of
rally fans for another reason. It was 25 years
ago (on 2 May 1986) that Henri Toivonen
and Sergio Cresto lost their lives on the 1986
Tour de Corse, a tragedy which had profound
repercussions on the sport.
It was further exactly one year before
that (2 May 1985) when fellow Lancia driver
Attilio Bettega died in an accident on that
event as well. Many of the old classic stage
venues are back again although a lot will be
run in the opposite direction to before, while
please pray for good weather as an extensive
programme of live television from the stages
is planned on that event.
It is all looking good for a memorable
sojourn in the Mediterranean. Travel plans
coming home from Jordan have gone well,
the ship with equipment landed at Cagliari
(South Sardinia) with 10 days in hand before
the rally.
Three official teams again in the WRC,
Ford and Citroen start exactly equal in
championship points, and the eternal
dilemmas about running orders will ensure
non-stop interest from start to finish.
Martin Holmes Rallying / Selden
Citroen and Ford
rejoin battle in
Sardinia this week